Over a month ago, we had a 24-hour Manila-Baguio-Manila trip. It was not something that we planned to do because we wanted to experiment, but it was rather a spur-of-the-moment decision.
We received a text message from our Ninong Chris that his father-in-law, Fidel Rillera, passed away earlier that day. By lunchtime, we received another text message from another friend, Mafe, who asked us if we wanted to go and offer funeral service. A couple of other friends agreed and we arranged to hire a vehicle.
Since that was a Saturday, we have to be back by Sunday evening for those who needs to report to their offices the next day. After a 6-hour trip, we arrived safely in Baguio City at 4AM. We were given the directions how to get to the funeral chapel and we did not hard a hard time looking for it.
After offering a short prayer for the dead and his family, our group agreed to attend the mass at the St. Joseph Parish. I wanted to visit this church because I have never been here. We always go to Baguio Cathedral whenever we are in the city.
Sadly, the mass we attended was in Ilocano so we did not understand it much, not even the homily! Only two persons in the group can understand the Ilocano dialect.
It was a good thing I brought my Bible Diary 2009 which contains the daily mass readings for the whole year. At least, I was able to do my own reflection of the Gospel for that day.
Our host invited us for a breakfast after the mass. He drove us to Emil-Rose Restaurant in Bgy. Scout Barrio, about a hundred meters away from the main gate of Camp John Hay. We ordered their Emil-Rose breakfast.
It was a very sumptuous breakfast, a complete meal I will say. There was rice, sunny-side-up fried egg, two slices of pork asado, a slice of fried chicken, and vegetables as well. Not bad for a meal of Php180 (almost $4 with the current exchange rate). The rice was newly-cooked. It was still smoking when they served it on our table and the vegetables are really fresh and crunchy.
He also ordered pancit canton for us, another specialty of the place. It has all the vegetables one finds in the original recipe of a pancit canton. Additionally, the noodles are not soggy. I have never eaten any pancit canton cooked this way.
I told myself I will definitely recommend Emil-Rose Restaurant to my friends who will be spending their vacation or weekends in Baguio City. I also made a promise to myself that I will be going back to this place on my return to the city, hopefully before Christmas.
After the heavy and filling breakfast, we headed our way back to the funeral chapel, met other friends from Manila who just arrived and bade goodbye to the family and the wife of the dead. Meanwhile, the second group was treated for lunch on the same restaurant and they gave very good feedback as well.
Before the trip back to Manila, we stopped at the Baguio City public market to buy some pasalubong and souvenirs.We were also invited by a friend to stop over Moncada, Tarlac. She is a native of the province and her parents prepared a light snack for us.
We arrived back in Manila at 10PM, the same time we left Manila the day before. It was indeed a 24-hour trip.
3 Kids and A Mommy 
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